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Tuesday, November 19, 2013

The presentation of the 2014 budget scheduled for Tuesday is postponed.

The decision to postpone the presentation is contained in a letter sent by the President Goodluck Jonathan to both chambers of the National Assembly.

In his letter, Jonathan explained that "there is a need for both chambers to harmonise the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Financial Strategy Paper (FSP) before the presentation" of the next year's budget.

"[I]n the circumstance, it has become necessary to defer the presentation of the 2014 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly until such a time when both respected chambers would have harmonised their positions on the MTEF," said the President, adding that he hopes that harmonisation will be done "in the shortest possible time."

After the announcement, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila told Channels Television, that President "gave a very cogent reason why the budget could not be presented. Under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, as you will be aware, the budget is predicated upon the MTEF and the MTEF has not been passed" noting that the Senate passed a version of it with a benchmark at $76.50 and the House has passed $79 per barrel benchmark. Despite the setback, the House Minority Leader maintained that "we cannot sacrifice a proper budget at the altar of timeousness."

Last week's session was shifted because the MTEF, the government's financial outlay for the next three years, was not adopted by the Senate and the House of Representatives.